Welcome to the Community Model Training Institute

is an

overarching service philosophy

that provides both

harm reduction

and

community-building.

The Community Model

The Community Model

provides a comprehensive menu of specific housing, service, and support components that are:

• accessible• stable• tailored for individual growth and

development

The Community Model- OverviewThe Community Model is….

• a comprehensive method of service provision

• has helped 1000’s of homeless people with mental illness achieve residential stability and an improved quality of life over the past 18 years

• uses harm reduction service strategies in a safe, flexible & non-hierarchical environment

• allows people to tailor their own paths to recovery and wellness

What are the goals of the Community Model?

• To provide a safe, flexible and non-judgmental environment to build trust and develop relationships with persons who have been labeled “hard-to-engage” and “service resistant”

• To Improve the residential stability of homeless, mentally ill persons

• To Provide a life-long community & support system where people can improve their lives in many arenas

Success & Replication of the Community Model

• Used as a prototype for the federal “Safe Havens” program

• Utilized in the design of the federal government’s recent Collaborative Initiative to Help End Chronic Homelessness in Los Angeles

• Received HUD’s Community Service Excellence Award• Identified as an exemplary service model by the

California State Governor• Highlighted as one of HUD’s “Best Practices” service

models• Components of the model have been adapted and

replicated by other agencies across the country, most recently by Ocean Park Community Center

Who does the Community Model work for?

Persons who are:• Chronically Homeless• Seriously Mentally Ill & addicted to one or more

substances• Developmentally Disabled• On parole/probation –in and out of jail• HIV+, have AIDS &/or have serious medical conditions• Socially Marginalized• Not “successful” or easily engaged in other programs• Disconnected from friends, family, society

Philosophical Framework of the Community Model

What is Harm Reduction?

Philosophical Framework of the Community Model

Harm Reduction is a set of practical strategies that reduce negative consequences of drug use and mental illness, incorporating methods from safer use, to managed use, to abstinence; that are voluntary, diverse, and health enhancing.

Philosophical Framework of the Community Model

Harm Reduction strategies meet dual-diagnosed persons “where they’re at”, addressing conditions of use and treatment along with the illness or drug use itself.

• Harm Reduction acknowledges that mental illness, licit and illicit drug use are part of our world and chooses to work to minimize their harmful effects rather than simply ignore or condemn them.

Principles of Harm Reduction

Principles of Harm Reduction

• Harm Reduction does not attempt to minimize or ignore the many severe and lasting harms and dangers associated with licit and illicit drug use.

Principles of Harm Reduction

• Harm Reduction recognizes that the realities of poverty, class, racism, social isolation, past trauma, sex-based discrimination and other social inequalities affect people’s vulnerability to and capacity for effectively dealing with mental illness and drug-related harms.

Principles of Harm Reduction

• Harm Reduction acknowledges that some ways of treating mental illness and using drugs are clearly safer than others.

Principles of Harm Reduction

• Harm Reduction establishes quality of individual and community life and well-being-- not necessarily cessation of drug use or mental health treatment- as the criteria for successful interventions and policies.

Principles of Harm Reduction

• Harm Reduction ensures that dually-diagnosed persons and those with a history of drug use and/or mental illness routinely have a real voice in the creation of programs and policies designed to serve them.

Principles of Harm Reduction

• Affirms dual-diagnosed persons themselves as the primary agents of reducing the harms of their illness/drug use, and seeks to empower them to share information and support each other in strategies that meet their actual conditions of use and of improved mental/physical health.

Principles of Harm Reduction

• Harm Reduction calls for the non-judgmental, non-coercive provision of services, housing, and resources to people who are dual-diagnosed and the communities where they live in order to assist them in reducing attendant harms.

The Importance of Community - Community Building Principles

• Services are provided to the individuals in the community in which they reside.

• Services voluntary, non-coercive and loosely structured.

• Members are the primary agents of change.

• The Community Model is non-hierarchical and non-judgmental.

The Importance of Community - Community Building Principles

• All programs and services within the Community Model are integrated with each other.

• Mental illness and addiction are lifelong cyclical illnesses that often require lifelong recovery processes.

• Housing is essential for good health, psychiatric stability and well-being.

Characteristics of the Community Model

• Supportive and Lifelong • Tolerant • Flexible and Non-Linear • Voluntary • Consistent • Accessible and Integrated • Diverse

OPCC Mission Statement

OPCC is a community-supported organization in which staff, volunteers and clients work together with mutual respect to address the effects of poverty, abuse, neglect and discrimination. The agency’s programs are designed to empower people to access the resources they need to ensure their survival, end their victimization and improve the quality of their life. OPCC provides common ground for our diverse community to effect public policy and advocate responsive human services.

Values• We believe that all human beings have a right to dignity, respect and self-

determination, and we acknowledge the value and worth of each individual’s life experience and potential.

• We believe in the empowering of those people impacted by poverty, domestic violence and mental illness through the provision of education, services and resources.

• We believe that a community helping others is a community helping itself.

OPCC is committed to:

• Empowering people who face social, emotional and economic obstacles; enabling them to move from chaos to stability, from dependence to independence.

• Advocating for and with people who become invisible because of violence, hunger, poverty, and recent immigration.

• Providing comprehensive, multi-faceted, immediately responsive social services.

• Providing safety, food, shelter and clothing to battered women and their children, runaway and abused youth, and homeless men and women.

• Enabling clients to utilize existing community resources through strong advocacy, informed referral and follow-though.

• Respect and believe that every individual can grow and change.• Instill a sense of hope; focus on each person’s strength, capabilities and needs.• Honor clients’ choices and promote self-determination.• ‘Meet them where they’re at’ and individualize services accordingly.• Address each individual’s right to safety, health, money, housing, jobs, family and

friends.• Commit to social justice through client empowerment, social and political activism.• Encourage risk taking, promote natural consequences and accept responsibility;

engage in ongoing critical evaluation of services and perceive failure as opportunities for growth and learning by clients, staff and volunteers.

• Involve clients in all aspects of program planning, provision and evaluation; client needs drive programs.

• Provide services in accessible, welcoming and comfortable environments.• Promote diversity to attain cultural synergy.

OPCC Guiding Principles

Lamp Community’s Components of the

Community Model A Menu of services….• Each is independently

operated but is strongly integrated with the others

• Provide a network of options• Easy for members to move

from one component to another

• Members can combine services from several components at once

• There is a program component, and a supportive environment, to help answer the needs of almost every member

Lamp Community Component:AB34/Outreach

• Best Practice • Provides integrated,

community-based wrap-around services and outreach to dually diagnosed individuals released from jail and other institutions

• Prevent them from falling back into homelessness and works with them on life recovery.

Lamp Community Component:Safe Haven Day Center

• Open 7 days a week • A highly tolerant, safe, and

unstructured environment • Engage “hard-to-engage”

individuals• Two basic rules

• no violence• no substance use

on the premises

• Drop-in services provided consistently to help encourage a sense of stability

Lamp Community Component:Safe Haven Respite Shelter

• 18 beds in semi-private cubicles in the Safe Haven Building & 12 beds used as shelter in next door master-leased apartment

• Congregate area for house meetings and activities– helps to build a sense of community and connection

• No time limits–most members stay between 1 and 6 months

• Advocates work with members on gaining stability and achieving individual goals

Lamp Community Component:“Transitional Housing” Lamp Village

• More structured • No limit on length of stay• Relapse is tolerated;

focus is on member’s behaviors and goals

• Extended relapse or negative behaviors that affect the Village community would cause a move to a less restrictive environment

• Advocates work with members on individualized service plans

Lamp Community Component:Supportive Housing Program

• Offers over 100 independent, supportive, housing units

• Agency-managed apartment building and collaborations with two local non-profit housing developers

• Members have private rooms

• Advocates provide on-site support to tenants

• Community is promoted by the advocates & the tenants of the buildings

Lamp Community Component:Skid Row Collaborative

• A collaboration of 10 agencies • 11 collaborative projects

funded in the country by SAMHSA, HRSA, VA & HUD

• Lamp Community and Skid Row Housing Trust are the lead agencies

• Provide services and supportive housing to 62 adults experiencing chronic homelessness, mental illness, and substance abuse

• 20% Veterans• Assists member make a

successful transition from the streets to permanent housing, self-sufficiency, and a better quality of life.

Lamp Community ComponentMember Operated Businesses & Employment:

Many of our members have not had the opportunity to contribute in valuable ways or to invest in their futures. Employment can be that vehicle.

The Village Industries are a cluster of small businesses providing needed services for the downtown neighborhood and a source of job training and employment for Lamp Community members

Lamp Community ComponentMember Operated Businesses & Employment:

Village Industries:

• The Linen Service is a commercial laundry that provides linen services for local non-profit hotels and shelters. The linen is laundered, folded, pressed and delivered by member employees.

• The Public Showers/Toilets are public showers and toilets that are open to the public.

• The Laundromat is a coin-operated Laundromat that serves Lamp Community and the entire Skid Row Community

Member Employment Opportunities within Lamp Community:

• Linen Service Worker• Food Service Worker• Laundromat Service Worker• Public Toilets and Showers

Service Worker• Peer Advocate - All programs• Receptionist - All sites• Maintenance Assistant• Night Watch Assistant -

Permanent Residence• Shelter Watch Assistant –

Shelter• Members can also apply for

Staff Positions and are considered according to qualifications with other applicants

Lamp Community Component:Supportive Services

• Meals • Clothing • Hygiene, Showers &

Laundry • Individual and Group

Counseling • Health Education • 12-Step Recovery

Programs • Harm Reduction Education • Relapse Prevention • Voluntary Drug testing • Psychiatric Evaluation &

Monitoring

Lamp Community Component:Supportive Services

• Medication Management • Specialized HIV Case

Management • Entitlements Advocacy • Money management • Representative Payee Services • Employment Training and

Placement • Socialization and Recreational

Outings • Art and Performance

Instruction • Referrals to other necessary

services

Community ModelTraining Institute

Tools to Build Rapport,

Respect, Trust, & Community

With Members/Guests

and Co-workers!

Characteristics of Staff

• Common Sense• Caring• Empathetic• Friendly• Organized• Motivated• Positive

• Good Attitude• Open• Flexible• Communicative• Ability to think

outside of the Box

Characteristics of Staff

• Professional• Self-starter• Independent Thinker• Committed• Creative• Non-Judgmental

• Good Sense of Humor

• Consistent• Team Player• Introspective• Non-traditional• Beginner’s Mind

Thank You!

Visit www.communitymodella.org

for more information on the Community Model

and the collaborative partners.

A collaborative project of Shelter Partnership, Lamp Community, OPCC, & RAND Corporation;funded by The California Endowment

Community Model

Training Institute